As promised, here’s a recipe that’s guaranteed to make your day delicious!!  Who doesn’t love orange rolls?  Now add fresh cranberry and pecans and you’ve got a scrumptious update to a classic favorite – perfect for the holidays!

Yesterday we posted the recipe for fresh cranberry orange sauce.  As much as I love it for Thanksgiving, I have to admit that there is always a lot left over.  So a few years I go I was trying to figure out what to do with it . . . . The solution was the birth of these ooey-gooey incredibly delicious Cranberry-Pecan Orange Rolls.  You really need to try them {of course you don’t have to wait until after Thanksgiving- you can go start a batch right now if you want!}.

Glazed Cranberry-Pecan Orange Rolls

Ingredients:

Sweet Rolls

3 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons instant yeast
1/2 cup powdered milk
3 eggs
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup oil
12 cups flour

Filling

3 cups fresh cranberry orange sauce (recipe here)
2 cups butter
2 cups brown sugar

Glaze

1 pound powdered sugar
6 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup milk
zest of one orange
pinch of salt

Directions:

In mixer bowl, combine warm water, yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar and allow to dissolve.  Add eggs, powdered milk, salt, sugar, oil and flour and knead with dough hook about 5 minutes.  Place in a large greased bowl and allow to double in size.  Divide dough in half.  Roll out each half in a large rectangle.  Spread 1 cup of butter on dough and sprinkle with 1 cup of brown sugar.  Top with 1 1/2 cups of cranberry sauce and nuts (repeat with 2nd half of dough).

Roll dough lengthwise and cut into 1 inch rolls.  {Use unflavored dental floss to make the cuts – it works perfectly!}.  Place on a sprayed pan and allow to double in size.  Don’t worry if the cranberry sauce oozes out and gets a little messy – the red looks so beautiful on the rolls and it all tastes yummy!

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes (until lightly browned).

While rolls are baking, make glaze by melting butter in a medium sauce pan.  Add orange juice concentrate, zest, and salt.  Stir in milk and then add powdered sugar.  Whisk until smooth – if you need to thin it down, add water a tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency – it should be able to pour.

Allow rolls to cool for about 5 minutes,  and then pour glaze over the top.  Make sure you let it ooze down into all the openings – you really can’t get too much of this stuff!

Now quick while they are still warm, serve them up and dive into to that ooey-gooey goodness!

Note:  Since this makes so many, often I will just make 1/2 batch, or make the full recipe and place the rolls in disposable cake pans.  Yummy gifts for the neighbors!